Page 1 of Racing Hearts

Prologue

Long legs. Tan skin. Beads of sweat dotting every inch of skin.

Ellie Finch licked her lips as she watched the blonde. She tried to pull her eyes away (or, at least, blink), butfuck,this girl was hot. When the blonde bent over in exhaustion, Ellie’s eyes instinctively moved to the world’s most perfect ass.Fuck.

“Earth to Ellie. Are you even listening to me?”

Ellie forced her eyes away from the track and over toward her best friend, Juniper, who was sitting beside her on the bleachers. “Um, yeah, totally,” she lied.

Juniper rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Cool. So, do you agree?”

“Yeah, totally,” Ellie repeated.That’s the safe answer, right?

Apparently, it wasn’t, because Juniper slapped her arm as soon as she said it. “Wow. Thanks a lot,” she said sarcastically.

Ellie gave her best friend her sweetest smile. “Okay, I lied. I wasn’t listening. I was focused on the race.”

“Well, since you weresofocused on the race, I assume you noticed that Sierra What’s-Her-Fuck just ran a time that’s only a couple tenths off your best.”

Ellie shook her head back and forth as she tried to completely free herself from her lustful haze and wrap her mind around what Juniper had just told her. Sierra… the girl who would be joining their track team next year (who also happened to be the girl Ellie had been checking out just seconds ago)… just ran a time that almost matched hers.Shit.It was great for the team, but not so much for Ellie—the girl who had won the 400-meter dash at every indoor and outdoor conference meet sinceher freshman year of college. The last thing she needed was for someone to join the team during her final season and strip that title away from her.

“I take it from your silence that you realize what that means. Everything we’ve been working for is ruined. So much for our all-expenses-paid bestie trip to California.”

California? What is she… damn.It hit Ellie like a ton of bricks. It now made perfect sense why Juniper looked so distraught over the results of this race. Ellie had been placed on their college’s 4x400 meter relay team in her freshman year, but it had taken three years and multiple graduations for Juniper to finally join the relay team with her their junior year. The relay team found their stride this past outdoor season and missed qualifying for the division III national track and field meet by just two spots. That was when Ellie and Juniper had decided that they would do whatever it took to get to the national meet in California their senior year.

What they hadn’t taken into consideration was the new class of recruits. If this girl was as fast as Ellie, she would get a spot on the relay for sure, which meant the slowest runner, Juniper, would get the boot.Shit.

“We don’tknowthat she’ll take your place.”

Juniper made a sound that was between a scoff and a laugh. “Yeah, okay. She’sgood.Like,your levelgood. There’s no question that she’s going to be on the relay team. Plus, she’s scrappy. The way she races reminds me of you.” Juniper furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at Ellie as if she was trying to figure something out. “But ifyouwere paying such close attention to the race, you would’ve noticed that.” A smirk came onto her face. “Okay, spill. Which girl were you checking out?”

Ellie swallowed hard. She was feeling very lucky to share her mom’s genetics over her mama’s right now, since she knew, in this situation, her mama’s face would turn a deep shade of redand her blue eyes would get darker, which would give away that she was lying. Luckily, Ellie had her mom’s skin that barely ever became red from embarrassment, and her eyes were so dark to begin with (an even darker brown than the brown of her long wavy hair), that they couldn’t possibly get any darker.

She pointed to a random girl walking off the track. “Her. The redhead.”

Juniper lifted an eyebrow. “The one who took dead last? Not your usual type.”

Juniper wasn’t wrong. Ellie had a history of falling for women who were just as competitive as her. She had even dated a runner from one of their rival schools for a year, but the girl was two years older than her, and their relationship fizzled out once she graduated and they were no longer competing against each other. But damn, the angry sex they had when one of their schools beat the other was hot as hell. Ellie’s body still heated up from just the thought of it.

Ellie forced herself from her daydreams so she could focus on her best friend. “This is the Pennsylvania high school state track and field meet. No one competing here isbad.”

“Okay, fine. But I believe the key word there ishigh school.We're about to be seniors in college. It’s gross to check out a high schooler.”

Ellie wanted to argue that the person she was checking out wastechnicallygoing to be in college with them soon, but that would mean she had to admit to her best friend that she was checking out the girl who was about to shake up their senior year. And definitelynotin a good way. “So, why did we even come here if it’s a track meet for measly high school students?” Ellie asked with a laugh.

“Hm…” Juniper tapped her chin as if she was actually considering the question. “Maybe becauseyousaid we should come, andIagreed because I wanted to hold you hostage foranother week before you leave me to go back to New Jersey for the summer.”

Ellie nodded. Juniper had her there. It had totally been Ellie’s idea for them to come to this meet. Because, why not? It was taking place less than an hour from West End, where they went to school, and multiple people competing were going to either be on their team or on one of the other teams in their conference. Ellie was serious about preparing for her senior season, and Juniper was serious about having an extra week of partying together before going home for the summer, so it had worked out for both of them. “Fine. That’s true.Butin my defense, a lot of these peoplewillbe in college next year.”

“Yeah, like Little Miss Priss herself.” Juniper nodded her head at the hot blonde, who was standing beside the track having, what appeared to be, a serious discussion with her coach. “She just ran faster than most of us could dream of, and she can’t even smile. Seems pretty bitchy to me.”

Or maybe, she just takes the sport seriously.“I almost never smile during track meets. You call me out on it all the time. Does that makemea bitch too?”

Juniper scoffed and bumped her shoulder against Ellie’s. “Of course not, but that’s because I like you. We hate her.”

Ellie laughed. “Excuse me…we?”

“Yes,we. We’re best friends. That means we hate the same bitches.”

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